Ishmael Butler is best known for his work with the Grammy-winning hip-hop group Digable Planets from the 1990s. These days he’s heading up a new project called Shabazz Palaces. The music is hard to pin down, it’s layered with textures and story fragments. The groove is haunting and the hooks hit deep. Ish doesn’t like to give interviews. It was a huge challenge just to track him down. And then it took a few phone conversations before he agreed to the interview. In this episode, Ish talks about growing up as an artist working with Digable, his unique definition of success, and why Shabazz Palaces’ music is shrouded in mystery.

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KEXP Documentaries are created by Michele Myers. With assistance from John Felthous. Executive Producer is Kevin Cole. If you would like to follow along more closely in the creation of these radio stories, we post research materials, songs and videos on our Facebook page and on Twitter.